Nate wanted to say no. He didn’t want to spend any time alone with the guy, but it was time for him to put aside his personal feelings. Barnes’ offer was reasonable. “Alright. Let’s go now.”
“Sure. Just let me grab something from my desk.” He gave Nate a cautioning look. “You should wait here so Sarge doesn’t see you.”
He had yet another piece of reasonable advice. Nate begrudgingly waited in the hall for Barnes to return. As added salt in the wound, Barnes insisted on driving. Nate tried calling Vince several more times during the drive, but the calls continued to go unanswered.
“Quarreling with Monroe?” Barnes asked with a smirk.
“Just drive, Barnes.” Nate wasn’t in the mood to play any of his twisted games. “Don’t mistake this ride-along as friendship.”
“So you won’t be coming over to my place tonight for the pillow fight?” Barnes floored the gas and sped through a red light. In an unmarked car, it was a risky move. “Where exactly am I headed?”
“Jenna thought that she was taken within a mile of where she was found. But she also wasn’t wearing any shoes, so I’m betting it was actually only a few blocks. If she had been running through a residential area, we would have a lot more witnesses than we do.” Nate pulled up the map he had loaded onto his phone. “Most of these streets are pretty major, except for this one that runs perpendicular to the park. I think we should start there.”
“Alright.” Barnes turned the wheel. He had removed his suit jacket and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. Nate noticed that he had deep scratch marks on his arm.
“Wild night?” he asked.
Barnes took a second to process the question before smiling. “I wish. I tried to give my dog a bath. Not a good idea.”
“I wouldn’t have expected you to be a dog person,” Nate said. Truth was, he hadn’t spent much time at all thinking about what kind of person Barnes might be. “What kind?”
“Lab.” He coughed and stepped hard on the brakes. “We don’t need to take an interested in each other, Tucker. Let’s just focus on our jobs.”
“Gladly,” Nate agreed as he stepped out of the car. The air was cool and smelled like snow. It was hard to explain that to someone who had never lived in a cold-weather climate, but you actually could smell snow. “We should check out any abandoned buildings first. Jenna mentioned that she was held in a cement basement.”
They walked down the street in silence, much to Nate’s relief. After passing a few single-family homes, Nate worried that his guess had been wildly inaccurate. It certainly didn’t look like the type of place where a serial killer would set up a lair.
“You’re getting rusty,” Barnes said.
“We aren’t done yet.”
Nate felt less confident than he sounded. They were nearly at the end of the block and the only building they hadn’t checked was a school. He nearly suggested they head back, but the school appeared to have been shut down so it was probably worth a quick look.
“I doubt the girls are being kept the school basement,” Barnes said.
“It will only take a minute to check it out.”
“Sure. If you really want to waste time instead of actually finding the girls…” Barnes bounced on his feet.
Nate had never seen him so anxious. “What’s wrong? Do you need to take a leak?”
In the distance, a faint banging noise echoed from around the side of the school. Nate instantly turned in that direction.
“It was probably an animal,” Barnes said in a high voice.
Nate ignored him and headed around the brick building. The banging started again, like a windowpane rattling. He glanced at each floor, but didn’t see anything suspicious. Then he glanced toward the ground where the dingy basement windows were nearly hidden. Using his trusty flashlight, he scanned each one.
“Nothing,” Barnes said smugly.
Nate was about to agree when he saw a faint movement in the very last window. “There’s someone in there,” he said, moving closer.
A hand smacked against the glass, leaving a dirty streak. It had been the hand of a young woman. He had no doubt that the girls were inside.
A metal door stood a few feet to the left of the window. It was padlocked.
“We have to get in there,” Nate said. He knew that in the movies, people always shot locks to break them open. In reality, it was never that easy.
“Here. Let me.” Barnes shoved him aside. “I’m good with locks.”
Nate watched suspiciously as Barnes manipulated the lock. He kept himself firmly in front of it, preventing Nate from seeing what he was actually doing. A few seconds later, he pulled open the door.
“Tada.” Barnes flashed his usual arrogant grin. “After you.”
The whole thing felt strange to Nate. He didn’t for a second believe that Barnes had been able to so easily pick the lock. But he was also in a hurry to get to the missing girls. It was possible that they were in imminent danger. So he stepped past Barnes and glanced down the stairs. Because he was on suspension, he hadn’t brought his gun with him to the hospital. Now, that felt like a huge mistake.
“Maybe you should go first. I’m unarmed.” Nate started to step back, but he was shoved hard from behind. The force knocked him forward until he lost his balance, tumbling head first down the stairs.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Olivia was in panic mode as she entered her apartment. She had tried calling Nate a dozen times, but he never answered. While it wasn’t uncommon for him to occasionally miss her calls, he always called back as soon as he was able to. Olivia knew that something bad had happened.
She almost went straight to the station, but she didn’t think there was enough time for that. Instead, she went into her bedroom and opened the drawer in her bedside table. Nate left a spare gun there, for her protection. She had never thought she would need to use it.
Now she picked it up and tucked it into the waistband of her jeans. Then she pulled her sweater down over it. When that was done, she called Nate’s partner. Vince answered on the second ring.
“Liv. Did Nate tell you to call me? He just can’t take a hint, can he?” Vince chuckled.
“Nate’s in danger, Vince,” Olivia said. “He isn’t answering his phone.
Vince paused. “That doesn’t mean that he’s in danger. Maybe he just doesn’t have his phone with him.”
“Where are you?” she asked.
“At the station.”
“And you haven’t seen Nate? He said he was headed to the station over an hour ago. He was coming to talk to you.” The words came flooding out of her mouth. “Jenna Kramer woke up. We went and talked to her.”
“Jenna is awake?” Vince sounded very serious now. “Does she know who took her?”
“Not exactly. But she was able to tell us approximately where she was held, and then after Nate left she remembered something else.” Olivia knew that this next part was going to be hard for Vince to believe. She almost didn’t believe it herself. “She remembered that her attacker had come into the bar where she works a couple of nights before the abduction. I swung by and checked out their security footage.”
“Did you see him? Did you see the killer?” Vince was breathing heavy and his footsteps were loud in the phone. A door creaked open and the sounds of the city filled the receiver.
Olivia took a deep breath and said, “I’m going to send you a picture. You should get in your car and drive to my place.”
“What? Why?”
“Because you and I are going to save Nate.” She hung up and sent him the screenshot of the bar footage that Chris had emailed to her. Then she sent her address and waited for him to arrive.
It took him less than ten minutes to drive to her place. His face was hard and pale as she climbed into the passenger’s side.
“You’re absolutely sure?” he asked, sounding like he already knew that it was true.
“I’m sure.” Olivia swallowed hard. “The killer is Barnes.”<
br />
Vince nodded slowly and took several deep breaths. “Okay. Let’s go save Nate.”
Olivia had done some research while she waited for Vince to pick her up. She discovered that Detective Barnes was also known as Elijah Barnes. He was born and raised in Chicago, the son of a teacher and a father that had died while he was still in his teens.
Based on the vague location Jenna had given, Olivia had narrowed down their search to one building- an old school where Barnes’ mother had been a teacher for twenty years. The school had just recently closed its doors.
“His mother died last month,” Olivia explained to Vince. “That was probably the triggering event. His father was incredibly abusive. That helped feed Barnes’ violent tendencies.”
“He never showed any signs,” Vince protested weakly. “He seemed like a normal guy. A little abrasive, but not violent.”
“He instigated that fight with Nate to get him removed from the case. He was afraid that Nate was going to figure it out.” Olivia was more certain than ever that Barnes was the killer. That also meant she was even more worried about Nate. “Head to the end of the street. The school is on the right.”
Vince parked the car and joined her on the sidewalk. “This is a bad idea, Olivia. You should stay in the car.”
“No way. I know that Nate is in there.” She glanced at the school and a shiver shot down her spine.
“If he is in there, he’s going to be pissed that I let you follow me into danger.” Vince gave her a pleading look. “Please wait out here.”
“You can tell him I insisted. He’s used to my stubbornness.” Olivia started walking toward the school. The front door was still chained shut, so she figured that there must be another way in. As they rounded the building, dread ran through her body.
A metal door stood wide open. Someone was definitely inside.
Olivia jogged toward the door with Vince right behind her. Her grabbed her shoulder just as she was about to go inside.
“At least let me go first,” he said, pulling her back.
Reluctantly, she let him take the lead down the stairs. At the bottom, they stared down a long hallway with cells along one side.
“Stay right behind me,” Vince said, pulling his gun into shooting position. He wasn’t taking any chances.
Olivia retrieved her own gun and held it at her side. She didn’t want to use it, but she would if she had to. Very slowly, she followed Vince down the hall.
They checked each cell, finding dirty blankets and old scraps of food. They didn’t find a single girl. The other end of the hall opened into a different room. Vince pressed a finger over his lips and motioned for her to move to the side. They both cautiously peeked through the open doorway.
Two girls sat huddled in a corner, holding onto one another. Barnes stood a few feet in front of them, pacing with a gun in his hand. A few feet to the right of the girl, a body lay sprawled, dark blood staining the floor around his head.
Olivia almost yelled out when she saw that it was Nate. A stern look from Vince was the only thing that helped her keep it together. They needed to use the element of surprise to catch Barnes off guard.
“I can’t believe you tried to escape, Dani. I expected more from you.” Barnes glared at the girls. “You and I had something special. I didn’t want to hurt you, but now I have no choice. You have to be punished.”
The girls were too weak to have much of a reaction.
“Don’t worry. I need to take care of this mess first.” He waved a gun at Nate’s motionless form.
Vince raised his gun, aiming at Barnes’ back. One of the girls noticed him in the doorway and her face registered surprise. Just as Vince was about to pull the trigger, Barnes whirled and fired in their direction. Olivia jumped to the side, pressing her back against the cool wall.
“Stay.” Vince took a breath and waited for the shots to stop. He counted, mouthing each number. Olivia knew that he was waiting until Barnes needed to reload. After the last shot, Vince moved in a flash. It would be too risky to fire into the room when the girls were still there.
Olivia watched as he threw himself at Barnes. They tumbled to the floor in a heap. She ran in behind him and hurried to the girls.
“Go,” she told them, pulling them to their feet. She handed her phone to the girl that seemed the strongest. “Call 911. Tell them where we are and that we have an officer down. We need backup and an ambulance.”
The girl nodded and took off. She pulled the other girl with her, running without glancing back.
Olivia rushed to Nate’s side, feeling for a pulse. It was there.
“Nate.” She checked his head wound and was relieved to see that it wasn’t as deep as she had feared.
When she glanced over to see how Vince was doing, she jumped to her feet. Barnes had managed to get ahold of Vince’s gun and he swung it hard at Vince’s head. There was a sickening crack upon contact and Vince fell to the ground.
Olivia had dropped her gun when she rushed to Nate’s side. Now she was unarmed and staring down a manic killer. Barnes grinned as he looked at her.
“Alone at last,” he said, taking a slow step forward.
“Nate always said you were a prick,” she replied, glaring at him. She wasn’t about to show him any fear.
“You said I was compensating.” His smile faded. “I think it’s time to prove you wrong. Don’t worry, you’ll enjoy it. They always do.”
She waited until he was close enough to touch and then used what she had learned in boxing class, jabbing him sharply in the nose. He screamed as the bone broke.
“You bitch!” Almost reflexively, he swung the gun at her head. She ducked just in time and it glanced off the top of her head.
Before she could feel triumphant about her moves, he lunged forward and slammed her against the wall. He held her there, arms pinned at her sides.
“I’m really going to enjoy this.” His face was close enough that his breath ruffled her hair. He reached down to unbutton her pants and his fingers were burning hot on her skin. She lifted her leg to stomp down on his foot, but his head flew to the side as a loud pop echoed through the room.
Her eyes shot to the side where Nate was kneeling, her gun still smoking in his hand.
“Not nearly as much as I enjoyed that, you sick fuck.” His eyes found Olivia. “Remind me to yell at Vince for bringing you here.”
“Sure thing.” She could finally breathe normally as she hurried to him.
Sirens in the distance were getting closer. The girls had made it to safety.
“Remember when you told me I should be nice to people?” he asked, glancing at Barnes’ dead body. “This is why you should never give life advice.”
Olivia was so glad that he was okay that she didn’t mind his cocky attitude. “I came to your rescue and this is the thanks I get?”
“No. You’ll get your thanks later,” he said with a leer.
“You can’t even stand up right now,” she said, using the sleeve of her sweater to wipe blood away from his eye. His wound was still bleeding pretty significantly.
“What I have in mind doesn’t require standing.” He leaned heavily against her, the last of his strength fading fast.
Vince had regained consciousness and he stumbled in their direction.
“You,” Nate said with a glare.
“I told her to stay outside,” Vince protested. “You know how she is.”
“I do.” Nate sighed wearily. “Still. I would think you could take a woman in a fight.”
“She’s scrappy.” Vince glanced at the doorway. “Sarge is going to be pissed when he sees you here.”
“He should be even more pissed when he sees Barnes here.” Nate’s eyes started to close. “How did you figure it out?”
“It was all Liv,” Vince admitted, looking at Olivia. “She found footage of Barnes stalking Jenna. Then she figured out this is the school where his mom used to teach. She’s a pretty good detective.”
Nate
smiled weakly. “Now who’s the Nancy Drew?”
The EMTs entered the room and started working on Nate. Vince and Olivia were led outside where they gave their statements to the investigating officers. Barnes’ body was removed a short time later, covered in a black body bag.
“Excuse me,” a small voice said as someone tugged at Olivia’s sleeve.
“Yes?” She turned and found one of the missing girls staring at her gratefully.
“I’m Dani…one of the girls that you saved in there.” She seemed to be having a hard time finding words. “I just…. I wanted to say thank you. I really thought I was going to die in there.”
Olivia offered her a smile. “Honestly, so did I. I’m glad we were both wrong.”
“Me too.” Dani looked up at the sky, taking a deep breath. “We’ve been given a second chance. Guess we need to make the most of it.”
“I guess so,” Olivia agreed.
A few hours later, she thought about that conversation again as she watched Nate sleep in a hospital bed. He had suffered a mild concussion and needed seven stitches, but he was going to be just fine.
When he opened his eyes, he gave her his usual Nate smile. “It’s really creepy when you watch me sleep, Thompson.”
“I don’t care.” She left her chair and sat next to him on the bed. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“You’re not breaking up with me, are you? Because I have to say that this is a very inappropriate time to break my heart.” He continued to smile as she took his hand.
“One of the girls we rescued said something to me tonight, and I’ve had all these thoughts in my head ever since.” She put her free hand on his chest. “I almost lost you tonight. If we had arrived just two minutes later, everything would be different.”
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m alright.” Nate reached up and wiped away the tear that ran down her cheek. “Don’t be sad.”
Olivia smiled. “I’m not sad, Nate. I’m just really glad that you’re okay. But it did make me realize something. My life is nothing without you. When you asked me to marry you in that diner, I missed the point. You knew something then that I only just realized tonight. I want to be with you. Now and forever. If you decide someday that I’m worthy of being asked again, I promise I’ll say yes.”
Had a Great Fall (An Olivia Thompson Mystery) Page 11
